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By Billy and Rose Sahm
When we decided to adopt in 1993, we knew
lots of families who had adopted children from other countries.
We knew a few who had adopted within the U.S. But from the District
of Columbia? From our very own Department of Human Service? Not
likely!
But Washington is our city. We have strong
ties here and with so many children available here, why go elsewhere?!?
So, the decision to use DHS for our training and adoption was a
natural one. But, while we wouldn't trade the outcome for anything
in the world, there have been some frustrations along the way.
Jimmy was introduced to us during the summer
of '93. We'd heard about this "miracle child", but were a little
concerned about his history of prenatal drug exposure and premature
birth. His medical notes were, to us non-medical types, filled with
frightening terms and even more frightening possible outcomes.
When Jimmy was 10 months old, he was predicted
to never walk; mental retardation was a distinct possibility. Fortunately,
his first foster mother, Tawanda, didn't put much stock in what
the doctors said!
A personal call from his developmental
pediatrician, whom we continue to visit annually just for fun, convinced
us to spend a little time with Jimmy.
I'd like to be able to say that we just
loved him to death the moment we saw him, but that wasn't the case.
We were just so uncertain about his future that it was difficult
to see the child without all the medical issues looming in the background.
He was developmentally delayed and his doctors would not make any
predictions about his future abilities or disabilities. We were
left only with glowing reports about how far he'd come and no "black
and white" answers about how much further he'd progress.
We continued to have visits with Jimmy,
at first, in the company of his foster mother or father (absolutely
the best parents, to whom we are extremely grateful), and, later,
at our home for day or overnight visits. Of course, we became closer
and closer to Jimmy and the process of our making a decision to
proceed or not, was extremely painful for us. Rose, ever the optimist,
felt in her gut that, indeed, Jimmy was special and had beaten the
odds; Billy, ever the realist, couldn't abide by the "grayness"
of information available. Our 8-year-old daughter, Laura, extremely
close and protective of Jimmy from the start, watched from the sidelines,
but we could see her disbelief when the possibility of not keeping
Jimmy was hinted at.
Ultimately, it was the continued interest
and enthusiasm of his doctors, including his developmental psychologist,
that helped guide us to our decision to say, "yes!" Dr. Katherine
Alter of Washington Hospital Center, and Dr. Penelope Glass, of
Children's Hospital were patient, understanding and thoroughly honest
in their interactions with us. We absolutely felt, and continue
to feel, that they are our allies and will support us come whatever.
Of course, at this point, our extended
families and neighbors and friends were all absolutely in love with
Jimmy, too! That sure helped us to feel at ease with our decision.
Now, 5 years old, Jimmy is a bright, outgoing,
affectionate, funny, friendly, mischievous Kindergartner at our
neighborhood public school. He's absolutely keeping pace developmentally
with all his school peers. And he's a joy to have around. He truly
is our very special miracle child! 
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